Opposition parties from Tamil Nadu met President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday demanding an immediate floor test in the state assembly, claiming that chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami had lost the confidence of the majority of legislators in the 234-member House.

A delegation of Opposition parties, comprising the DMK, Congress, CPI and CPI(M), told the President the Palaniswami government is now a minority after 21 legislators of the AIADMK expressed no confidence.

These 21 MLAs now owe allegiance to TTV Dinakaran’s rebel faction of the ruling party. “We demand an immediate floor test. Let the assembly decide who has the majority,” CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said after the meeting.

“If there is uncertainty about numbers in an assembly or Parliament and the ruling party does not command the majority of the House, the only way the judiciary and the Presidency of India has always adhered to is to test the majority in the floor of the House. This is to be implemented,” he said. Yechury said a government in any state or at the Centre will have to enjoy the majority of the elected legislature or members of Parliament and that could be demonstrated and established only on the floor of the House.

For his part, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said the opposition parties have conveyed their concern to the President and urged him to direct Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao to convene the assembly and call for a trust vote as the Palaniswami government has lost the confidence of the House.